Development of microsatellite markers for Manilkara maxima T.D. Penn. (Sapotaceae) and their use in conservation genetics

Abstract

Manilkara maxima is an endemic tree species of the Atlantic Forest in southern Bahia, Brazil. It is considered important for forest conservation due to its mutualistic interactions with endemic and endangered animals. Our aim was to develop microsatellite markers to estimate genetic diversity in order to provide information for effectiveness of future conservation programs. We used next generation sequencing technology to develop the first specific microsatellite markers for M. maxima. Seventeen new microsatellite loci were applied in 72 individuals sampled in three natural populations. On average, the number of alleles per loci was 8.8. The expected heterozygosity varied between 0.72 and 0.77, indicating that the developed set of molecular markers is useful for genetic diversity studies. Additionally, the estimated value for the combined probability of exclusion (Q) was greater than 0.999, which indicates the powerful of these molecular tools for paternity and kinship analysis. Our results demonstrate that the set of microsatellites developed in this work is a powerful tool for population genetics, molecular ecology and conservation biology purposes.

Development of nuclear microsatellite markers to facilitate germplasm conservation and population genetics studies of five groups of tropical perennial plants with edible fruits and shoots: rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum L.), sapodilla (Manilkara zapota (L.) P. Royen), lychee (Litchi chinensis Sonn.), mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana Linn. and Garcinia cochinchinensis (Lour.) Choisy) and bamboo (Bambusa vulgaris Schrad. ex J.C. Wendl and Guadua angustifolia Kunth)

“…Germplasm conservation and genetic population studies can be performed with a small number of markers, many have used between 8 and 17 SSRs (Amici et al 2019;Ekue et al 2009;Moraes et al 2013;Samsir et al 2016;Silva-Junior et al 2016;Viruel and Hormaza 2004). Indeed, the most common number of loci that had been used in population studies of wild species was six and usually no more than twelve (Koskinen et al 2004).…”

“…For lychee, only 4 and 12 SSRs were reported in separate studies (Ekue et al 2009;Viruel and Hormaza 2004), respectively. For sapodilla, only 8 and 17 SSRs were reported in two studies (Moraes et al 2013;Silva-Junior et al 2016), respectively. For mangosteen, only 17 SSRs were described (Samsir et al 2016).…”